Portfolio+Meditation+-+How+can+we+bridge+the+gap+between+home+and+school+literacies?

Kerry Storace December 22, 2014 CTGE 5531 Portfolio Meditation: How can we bridge the gap between home and school literacies?  Everyone, including students, uses different speech with family and friends than they do in professional or academic environments. To do otherwise would actually be considered inappropriate. Although it is more than acceptable to use causal speech or slang, it is important to know Standard English as well. Students need to find a way to understand both forms of speech as they will need to use both in their lives.  One way of bridging the gap between home and school literacies is by introducing pop culture into the curriculum. One of the things I mention in my community description is the types of novels students are currently interested in. Right now, students are reading many books about dystopian societies such as //The Hunger Games// or the //Divergent// trilogy. By incorporating what students are reading into the curriculum, students will become more engaged. My community also discusses hobbies, artistic pursuits, community activities, and athletics. By incorporating these sorts of things into the curriculum students will not only become engaged, they will also feel that their lives outside of school are acknowledged and respected. Being a product of an arts high school myself, I can personally attest that the incorporation of music in my curriculum improved my performance in my academics. Students need to feel inspired.  One technique for teaching grammar is using a free write. Upon first learning of this technique, I found it strange. After all, free writing by its nature does not address grammar or spelling so it seemed counter intuitive to use this approach for grammatical thinking. In many ways, however, it is an extremely clever strategy. Students begin by using casual language like they might use at home and they then revise and edit the piece. Revision, editing, and re-writing are some of the best ways to learn grammar. It is not beneficial for the teacher to revise students’ papers but the instructor can guide students through this process. This particular technique uses examples of books written by various authors that are meant to enhance the students’ understanding of grammar. They use these texts to make revisions in their own writing. This way they are able to see both the differences and the value of both casual language as well as Standard English.